How to Apply to Graduate School

Do your research. Find out which graduate schools offer the programs you’re interested in. Then find out how selective each program is—for example, how many applicants it accepts each year, the types of undergraduate institutions these students come from, and whether anyone from Reinhardt or a comparable institution has ever gained admission to that program.

Be realistic. If a school or program is highly selective, understand that your chances of acceptance are close to nil. Before you apply anywhere, talk to professors who are not only willing to give you a reality check but also able to suggest schools and programs that have accepted students from Reinhardt in the past.

Listen to and follow your professors’ advice. Don’t be stubborn and apply to Harvard anyway, assuming you’re going to be the shining exception who will succeed where other Reinhardt graduates have failed unless you thrive on bitter disappointment.

Be willing to start small. Your goal may be a doctorate from a first- or second-tier school, but you will stand a much better chance of achieving that goal if you first earn a master’s degree from a lower-tier school.

Be frugal. Admissions applications are expensive. You are a poor college student. Don’t waste money applying to places that are certain to reject you.

Write a grammatically and mechanically correct letter of application. Don’t capitalize common nouns like history, winter, or sophomore. Spell words correctly. Remember to put periods and commas inside quotation marks. Ensure that your syntax is logical and that you have followed all the rules of standard English. If you don’t know these rules, learn them first; then write.

Know something about the faculty of the program you’re applying to. Read publications by the professors who specialize in your area of concentration; then refer to their publications in your letter of application. Such detail shows specificity and reciprocity. Instead of just touting your own strengths, you thereby demonstrate awareness of what the department has to offer you.

Before you send your letter, ask a knowledgeable person to help you edit it. The same advice applies if the school or program has asked you to include a writing sample with your application.

Request letters of recommendation only from professors who know you well and for whom you’ve done outstanding work, preferably in more than one course. Don’t ask someone merely because he or she has an impressive title. If a professor doesn't know you or remembers you only as a mediocre student in a general education class your freshman year, one of two things will happen: The brutally honest professor will tell you no and hurt your feelings; the kind-hearted professor will write an uninspired letter that will hurt your cause.

Request recommendations in person or by polite e-mail. Never simply tape a form to, or slide a form under, a professor’s office door. That’s rude. And the professor may repay your presumption by simply trashing the form or even writing you a negative letter.

Provide full information with your request. This information includes which schools and programs you are applying to, what the deadline is, and whether the recommendation will be online or by snail mail. If the school requires a paper letter, you should also provide POSTAGE. It’s not your professor’s job to pay for your recommendation.

Respect your professors’ time by making your requests well in advance of the application deadline. If you wait until two days before, the day before, or the night before the recommendation is due, chances are you’ll annoy your professors so much that they’ll refuse to write for you. If the request suddenly pops up on their e-mail at the eleventh hour, they are well within their rights to disregard it.

Waive the right to see your recommendation. Admissions committees put the most stock in letters that students waive their right to read because these letters tend to be the most honest and forthright. Moreover, if you have chosen the right professors to recommend you, you can be confident they will praise you and your work. As a professional courtesy, most of them will also provide you a copy of the letter, so you’ll see what they wrote anyway.

Remember to say thank you, Part I. Recommendations take time and effort. Online recommendations can be especially irritating since, in addition to having a letter ready to upload, professors must log in and either create a password or slog through their password list to find the password they used the last time they accessed the system. By now, the program has timed out, forcing them to start anew. You need to acknowledge the work your professors have done on your behalf by expressing gratitude.

Remember to say thank you, Part II. If you are being considered by a program that interviews applicants and you are granted an interview, always send a well-written thank-you note to the admissions officer and any other individuals who interviewed you. Appreciation is in short supply with most people nowadays. Your job is to convince the admissions committee that you are not most people.

How to Apply to Graduate School

Do your research. Find out which graduate schools offer the programs you’re interested in. Then find out how selective each program is—for example, how many applicants it accepts each year, the types of undergraduate institutions these students come from, and whether anyone from Reinhardt or a comparable institution has ever gained admission to that program.

Be realistic. If a school or program is highly selective, understand that your chances of acceptance are close to nil. Before you apply anywhere, talk to professors who are not only willing to give you a reality check but also able to suggest schools and programs that have accepted students from Reinhardt in the past.

Listen to and follow your professors’ advice. Don’t be stubborn and apply to Harvard anyway, assuming you’re going to be the shining exception who will succeed where other Reinhardt graduates have failed unless you thrive on bitter disappointment.

Be willing to start small. Your goal may be a doctorate from a first- or second-tier school, but you will stand a much better chance of achieving that goal if you first earn a master’s degree from a lower-tier school.

Be frugal. Admissions applications are expensive. You are a poor college student. Don’t waste money applying to places that are certain to reject you.

Write a grammatically and mechanically correct letter of application. Don’t capitalize common nouns like history, winter, or sophomore. Spell words correctly. Remember to put periods and commas inside quotation marks. Ensure that your syntax is logical and that you have followed all the rules of standard English. If you don’t know these rules, learn them first; then write.

Know something about the faculty of the program you’re applying to. Read publications by the professors who specialize in your area of concentration; then refer to their publications in your letter of application. Such detail shows specificity and reciprocity. Instead of just touting your own strengths, you thereby demonstrate awareness of what the department has to offer you.

Before you send your letter, ask a knowledgeable person to help you edit it. The same advice applies if the school or program has asked you to include a writing sample with your application.

Request letters of recommendation only from professors who know you well and for whom you’ve done outstanding work, preferably in more than one course. Don’t ask someone merely because he or she has an impressive title. If a professor doesn't know you or remembers you only as a mediocre student in a general education class your freshman year, one of two things will happen: The brutally honest professor will tell you no and hurt your feelings; the kind-hearted professor will write an uninspired letter that will hurt your cause.

Request recommendations in person or by polite e-mail. Never simply tape a form to, or slide a form under, a professor’s office door. That’s rude. And the professor may repay your presumption by simply trashing the form or even writing you a negative letter.

Provide full information with your request. This information includes which schools and programs you are applying to, what the deadline is, and whether the recommendation will be online or by snail mail. If the school requires a paper letter, you should also provide POSTAGE. It’s not your professor’s job to pay for your recommendation.

Respect your professors’ time by making your requests well in advance of the application deadline. If you wait until two days before, the day before, or the night before the recommendation is due, chances are you’ll annoy your professors so much that they’ll refuse to write for you. If the request suddenly pops up on their e-mail at the eleventh hour, they are well within their rights to disregard it.

Waive the right to see your recommendation. Admissions committees put the most stock in letters that students waive their right to read because these letters tend to be the most honest and forthright. Moreover, if you have chosen the right professors to recommend you, you can be confident they will praise you and your work. As a professional courtesy, most of them will also provide you a copy of the letter, so you’ll see what they wrote anyway.

Remember to say thank you, Part I. Recommendations take time and effort. Online recommendations can be especially irritating since, in addition to having a letter ready to upload, professors must log in and either create a password or slog through their password list to find the password they used the last time they accessed the system. By now, the program has timed out, forcing them to start anew. You need to acknowledge the work your professors have done on your behalf by expressing gratitude.

Remember to say thank you, Part II. If you are being considered by a program that interviews applicants and you are granted an interview, always send a well-written thank-you note to the admissions officer and any other individuals who interviewed you. Appreciation is in short supply with most people nowadays. Your job is to convince the admissions committee that you are not most people.